contemporary

I've read all of Christine Feehan's books, and this was, in my opinion, the best. For once, instead of a dark, tortured hero, you get a dark, tortured heroine Destiny who kicks butt (her action moves remind me of Selene in the movie Underworld). There's no issue about acclimatizing the human heroine to the world of the Carpathians, because Destiny has already been "turned". The secondary characters are not the usual young humans or Carpathians, but rather interesting members of a vibrant community. The best parts for me are not only having a female vampire hunter, but also the neighbourhood mystery (which is nicely solved) and Velda's (zany-dressing old lady) secret. Those two elements really made the book stand out in the series.

Yeah, the heroine is traumatized and has trouble adapting to relationships - but that's no surprise - being tortured from the age of 6 to 14 is bound to be hard on anyone's life. The fact that she's still in terrible pain every single day from the blood in her veins just makes it more reasonable that she's still very close to her ordeal. Stories of tortured heros who learn to love easily are easy to believe because a) they've had a lot of sexual relationships/vices/friends since to wash the pain away, b) they were older when it happened, or the torture was only for a short time, or c) they have had more time to deal with it, or more time to learn control themselves. Destiny doesn't have any of these advantages. If I'd been beaten, raped, tortured and mutated by a crazy vampire for 8 years and thought I'd caused my entire family to die I wouldn't fall in love with a handsome Carpathian so quickly either (this is all in the first few chapters, so I'm not giving anything away).

As for the hero Nicolae, he was already ancient and strong, secure in his abilities. He had nothing to prove. He was strong enough, controlled enough, and smart enough to know that Destiny needed to heal before being rushed into a life-bonding relationship. Readers who want an alpha male to rush his mate into a relationship at the cost of her mental health are asking for a guy with big muscles but tiny brains. Remember? Carpathian males do what's best for their mates, even if that's not what their mates want (Gregori and Savannah, anyone?). Nicolae is smart enough to know that what's best for his mate is to give her some time and patience to get used to him before claiming her. (It just happens that giving her time was what was best for her AND also what she wanted. Giving her time didn't make Nicolae submissive, it made him intelligent enough to do what was best for her in spite of his own desires.)

So this book was everything I'd hoped for and more. The secondary characters really grounded Destiny in a warm loving community with interesting characters, there was an actual mystery (not just the usual vampire-conspiracy storyline), Feehan gave Destiny a realistic reaction (based on her past) to Nicolae, and Velda's secret had me crying at the end.

So run out and get this book. But if you just want another book like Dark Prince, Dark Challenge and Dark Magic, you may not like this, because it doesn't follow the old formula.

Feehan does another excellent job on this addition to her series of romantic Carpathian (i.e. good vampire) novels. This one involves a heroine who hunts vampires herself instead of staying behind to be protected--a good change from the previous formula. All her heroes are sexy and totally devoted to their lifemate--no uncertainty of their devotion here. Unlike the previous reviewer I LIKE the additional social commentary. Feehan obviously feels strongly that child abuse and spousal abuse of hideous & uses this platform to spread the message not to stand for it. I say GOOD FOR HER and an excellent serious element to a fun and very readable series. I look forward to the next one and buy them as soon as they come out. Get all of them Dark Destiny, the Leopard people, Ghostwalkers and the new Drake sisters series. I'm less enthusiastic about the contemporary books she's written. Definitely add her to your collectible authors, though.

In this book, Mrs. Feehan has shown that even through the toughest adversity the goodness of a persons heart and soul shine through.
The Heroine of this book, Destiny, underwent physical, mental and emotional abuse throughout her childhood and was still able to show an inner strength and a will to survive. Once again Christine has given us a strong hero who knows that with true love all things can be conquered and a heroine who has to learn that being strong sometimes means needing someone to lean on.
This book has action, romance, suspense and even small amounts of comedy. For the first time in her Dark series Christine has given a woman the role of a hunter, and she has done so with a beautifully written story that takes you further into the shadow world she started in Dark Prince.
Destiny is a woman who thinks she is doomed to spend her life alone because of a horrible attack by a vampire when she was a child but Nicolae is determined to win her heart and prove to her that they belong together not just now but for eternity and he will do whatever it takes to make her understand that. The secondary characters in this story make it even better as you get caught up in their world and what happens to them and how Nicolae and Destiny will do anything to protect them from harm.
If you enjoy action, romance and suspense pick this book up and give it a try..you will not be disappointed. You might actually find yourself entering another world, full of shadows, night creatures and those who call that world home.